The eighth and ninth years of Xianfeng (1859) were the years of major turning points in the life of Zuo Zongtang, a famous minister in the late Qing Dynasty.
Prior to this, Zuo Zongtang was unfavorable because of the three imperial examinations, and although he had the talent of "reborn Zhuge Liang", he could only commit himself to the Hunan Inspector Yamen without a name, and be a "master" who repeatedly built and defended Changsha, but never had a formal rank.
But even if he was a master, talented and bold, Zuo Zongtang of Guijiao Bizhang was also blind to everything, and in the Hunan official field at that time, since the inspector was below, even if he was the commander-in-chief of The Second Pin, when he saw Zuo Zongtang, without exception, he had to behave in a disciplined manner.
In addition to this arrogant and arrogant thing, Zuo Zongtang also had a scarce loyalist in the late Qing dynasty officialdom in his bones, and since he entered the official field as a master, until he was later knighted and worshipped, his straight candle was a giant traitor, regardless of his wealth, and his strongman nature without attachment had never changed in the slightest.
It is reasonable to say that in the late Qing dynasty officialdom that emphasized the way of moderation and smoothness, such as Zuo Zongtang, who was both arrogant, rigid, and upright, it was difficult to get ahead, and even if it came out, sooner or later it would be killed. But Zuo Zongtang had created a miracle, since surviving the disaster of Xianfeng in 89 years, whether he was extremely Tailai or not, all the way to hang, almost unchecked for decades.
How did it come to this?
In the late Qing Dynasty, there were too many old ghosts in the official field, and the situation was too difficult, and the imperial court really needed such a straight and domineering figure as him to balance some characters and sweep away some situations.
When it comes to the real starting point of Zuo Zongtang's strong rise, there are also some flavors of "Jiren's own heavenly appearance".
According to Liu Yusheng's record in the "Miscellaneous Memories of Shi Zai Tang", "Old Man Wu of Shicheng, who was ninety years old, saw Fan Gong (Fan Xie, the chief soldier of Yongzhou Town) when he was a child, and his words said: Fan Gong saw Luo Shuai (Hunan Inspector Luo Bingzhang), and Shuai Ling heard Zuo Shiye and did not ask for peace. Zuo Shouted: When the military attache sees me, no matter how big or small, he must ask for peace, why not? Please be safe. Xie Yue: The imperial court system, the case of the military attaché seeing the master and asking for peace. Although the military attaché is light, I am also a second and third officer of the imperial court. Zuo was furious and anxious, and he wanted to kick it with his feet, and he yelled: "Wang Babao, get out!" Xie Yi also retreated to the extreme, and before long, there was a court purpose for Fan Xie to resign from his post and return home. ”
According to Liu Yusheng, Zuo Zongtang kicked the imperial court military attaché in anger because Fan Xie despised him, and then impeached Fan Xie with a knife and pen, making him completely cover up and roll back to his hometown.
In addition to this statement, there is another theory, Zuo Zongtang did not kick Fan Xie, but gave the other party a big ear melon seed fiercely.
However, what Zuo Shiye did not expect was that Fan Xie, who was humiliated and lost his official position, was not a person who was slaughtered by others, and then he took the path of Guan Wen, the governor of Huguang, and Guan Wen directly played XianFeng, and even viciously put Zuo Zongtang with a "bad curtain" hat.
In the official field of the late Qing Dynasty, the hat of "inferior curtain" could easily take the life of Master Zuo.
Sure enough, Xian Feng was furious when he saw Guan Wen's impeachment chapter, and he issued an edict to Guan Wen, and Zuo ZongTangguo had an illegal affair and could correct the law on the spot. That is to say, as long as you can get a trace of the fact that Zuo Zongtang is an "inferior curtain", or plant some evidence on Zuo Zongtang's head, the official text can directly make other people's heads fall to the ground.
In this way, Zuo Zongtang at this stage was simply intolerant and was about to lose his life.
Of course, some people also say that although Zuo Zongtang is arrogant and arrogant, he still understands the sinisterness of the officialdom, and he will not act recklessly because of such a small matter, and the struggle between him and Fan Xie is not because Fan Xie did not ask for peace, but because Fan Xie was a mighty blessing in the local area, Zuo Zongtang was not accustomed to using Luo Bingzhang's name to put on a piece of impeachment against him, and Fan Xie held a grudge after falling off the horse, so he took his identity as a master and made a big fuss about finding stubble, hoping to return the favor with a knife.
Thinking about it carefully, Zuo Zongtang's foot kicking and slapping is closer to the legendary interpretation of Zuo Dashuai, and the impeachment between Master Gangzheng and the chief soldier who committed evil should be closer to the truth of history, but in any case, Zuo Zongtang met the biggest obstacle in his life in the ninth year of Xianfeng.
Although it may not make other people's heads fall to the ground, the possibility of disappearing from the official arena from now on is still very large.
However, at this time, the Xiangren clique in the late Qing dynasty launched a very famous rescue of Zuo Zongtang.
At that time, in the official field of the late Qing Dynasty, the Xiang people had formed a huge group with people in the capital and local power. After learning of Zuo Zongtang's difficulties, Hu Linyi, whose actual status in the Xiangren clique was no less than Zeng Guofan's, assumed the role of center planning, and at the local level, he joined forces with Zeng Guofan to wait for an opportunity to support Zuo Zongtang, and in the capital, he formed a timely alliance with Guo Songtao, who served in the Hanlin Academy.
The most beautiful move to rescue Zuo Zongtang was carried out by Guo Songtao. He took the superior snuff bottle as a courtesy, pulled Pan Zuyin, who was on duty in the South Study, into the game, and asked him to come forward to give Xian Feng a piece of music to protect Zuo Zongtang.
For the late Qing Dynasty officialdom, this recital was not only famous, but also very important.
"The first army of Southern Chu, meritorious to this province, aided Jiangxi, Hubei, Guangxi, guizhou, xiang Kejie, dispatched by Luo Bingzhang, was actually planned by Zuo Zongtang to win the victory, which is common in the world, and it has long been in my Shengming Cave Book." Last year, the rebellious chiefTain Shi Da drove back to Hunan, claiming hundreds of thousands, with the salary of this province and the soldiers of this province, and cleared the four realms in a few months. At that time, the thieves traveled thousands of miles, all in zongtang planning, set up to change places and look at it, and there were people who could not be contained. It is a country that cannot go a day without Hunan, and Hunan cannot go a day without Zuo Zongtang. Zong Tang is a person with a negative and upright nature, jealousy and hatred, and Hunan is not a member of the People's Republic of China, who does not follow his private thoughts, and has been slandered for a long time. The official wen of the governor of Huguang was confused by the floating words, and it was inevitable that there would be a place to criticize the roots. Zong Tang was a national, and it was insignificant to stay, and the situation in southern Chu was particularly important, and he had to pity for the country. ”
This secret purse can be described as a righteous speech, and it is deafening to read.
With this Xiongwen opening the way, Su Shun, who was already heavy on Han Chen, rose up and spoke vigorously to Xianfeng, Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang were both talents of Kuangfu Sheji, and it was better to be cautious than to reuse.
At that moment, when the Qing court's Jiangnan camp was attacked by the Taiping Army, the society was in turmoil, and there was an urgent need to employ people, Xianfeng finally let down his guard against Han Chen, and handed over the real power of the governor of Liangjiang to Zeng Guofan.
For Zuo Zongtang, when he learned that Zuo Zongtang was nearly fifty years old, Xianfeng finally stated that it was precisely when he served the country, if he could be of great use, when he used it as soon as possible, his energy would decline in a few years.
In this way, Zuo Zongtang was a substitute of sipin jingtang and accompanied Zeng Guofan, the governor of Liangjiang, to run military affairs. Zeng Guofan also appreciated Zuo Zongtang's talent, and then asked him to recruit 5,000 people in Hunan, forming a Chu army on his own, and going to Jiangxi and Anhui to fight against the Taiping Army.
Nearly fifty years old, it was the twilight of the battlefield conquest, but Zuo Zongtang went from here to the later iron-blooded glory, which not only made the Chinese people admire, but also made the foreigners at that time marvel.
However, this period of history does not end here, many people know that "the country can not be without Hunan for a day, and Hunan cannot be without Zuo Zongtang for a day", but how valuable is this famous saying that recreated the first strongman in the late Qing dynasty officialdom? Many people are not clear.
When Zuo Zongtang rarely gave gifts and offered wealth in his life, even if a figure like Zeng Guofan entered Beijing and passed through ChongwenMen in the late Qing Dynasty, he had to pay a fee for filial piety to the imperial court according to the rules, but Zuo Zongtang never paid attention to such bad rules, but in order to thank Pan Zuyin for his original words, he rarely sent a heavy gift to the other party.
Come to think of it, it was also a kind of heavy thanks from Maxima to Bole.
Da Lu Ding, which emerged from Mei County, Shaanxi during the Daoguang Period, is a heavy weapon in the bronze ceremonial vessel of the Western Zhou Kang King, named after the creator of the kang dynasty minister name cup, and was sold to the cultural relics market after excavation.
When Song Jinjian, the richest man in Qishan, learned of this, he made heavy gold to buy Baoding, because the shape of the instrument was huge and very eye-catching, and was soon taken away by Zhou Gengsheng of Qishan County with "private possession of heavy weapons, with a bad heart".
Zhou Gengsheng was not a lover of famous utensils, and after he got Baoding, he soon changed hands and sold this rare treasure to the capital.
Thirty years after Daoguang, Song Jinjian went to Beijing to take the exam and won the Zhonghanlin, after which he searched for antique shops in the capital, and finally reunited with Baoding, spent 3,000 taels of silver to buy it back, and transported it back to his hometown in Qishan.
During the Tongzhi period, the Song family's friendship declined, and the Descendants of the Song family, Song Yunshou, transported Baoding to Xi'an, and Yuan Baoheng (Yuan Shikai's uncle), who was serving as an aide in Zuo Zongtang's mansion at the time, saw this treasure and spent 700 taels of silver to buy it, and then gave it to Zuo Zongtang, who loved antiquities.
After getting this bronze baoding, Zuo Zongtang remembered Pan Zuyin, a former Bole benefactor who was obsessed with bronze. However, when Zuo Zongtang intended to give this treasure to Pan Zuyin, the great collector of the late Qing Dynasty suspected that this treasure was a fake and was reluctant to accept it.
In the thirteenth year of Tongzhi, Fan Zuyin finally knew that Baoding was a rare treasure, so he wrote letters to Zuo Zongtang one after another, urging him to go straight, and the eagerness of Ding's mood was evident. Zuo Zongtang was convinced, and without hesitation, he hurriedly spent a heavy freight of 3,000 taels of silver to send Baoding to the pan zuyin mansion in the capital.
After Fan Zuyin obtained the Great Lu Baoding, he asked the famous Jinshi master Wang Shi to engrave two seals, one side was "Boyin Treasure First" and the other was "Nangong Dingzhai ", which showed his cherished heart.
However, in a turbulent and chaotic world, it is not easy for private families to treasure this rare national treasure! Judging from the vicissitudes of the past hundred years, Pan Zuyin's descendants have not lived up to the historical stories among their ancestors.
Fan Zuyin had no heirs, and the two sons who had inherited from his brother Pan Zunian also died prematurely, which meant that the Pan brothers did not have sons later. Since Pan Zuyin's death, his brother Pan Zunian transported the cultural relics collected by his brother back to his hometown in Suzhou, and for a time, Da Lu Ding was offered to the Pan family compound in the hall of the Pan family compound, regarded as an heirloom.
When Pan Zunian was alive, he had a very strict grip on the family treasures, and set the family rule of "guarding and holding, never showing people", but the incense of the Pan family was really not strong, and when Pan Zunian died, his grandson had already died of illness, so the heavy responsibility of caring for the family treasures finally fell on the shoulders of Pan Dayu, the granddaughter-in-law of the Pan family.
What makes the ancestors of the Pan family happy is that although the little girl Pan Dayu has not read many books, she knows the great righteousness and has responsibility. In the early years of the Republic of China, the British learned that the Pan family had a national treasure, and came to China to negotiate with Pan to buy Baoding, bidding up to hundreds of taels of gold, but Pan Dayu was not moved.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, when Suzhou fell, in order to prevent the national treasure from falling into the clutches of the Japanese, Pan Dayu led the Pan family nephew to dig a deep pit that took several days and nights in the hall house of the second courtyard, and then buried Baoding in the ground, and then restored the hall house to its original state. Later, the Japanese once went to the Pan family's house to dig three feet of ground, but they did not expect that the Pan family's treasure pit was in the hall house and was never obtained.
Fast forward to 1951.
The descendants of the Pan family saw that the people's government attached great importance to the protection of cultural relics, and believed that only such a government could entrust the treasures of the ancestors. After the family's deliberations, Pan Dayu wrote a letter to the Ministry of Culture of East China on July 6, 1951, hoping to donate Da Lu Ding and another Pan family treasure, Da Ke Ding, to the state, and hoping to put two Baoding pieces on display in the Shanghai Museum.
On July 26, the Shanghai Cultural Relics Administration Committee sent commissioners to Suzhou accompanied by the descendants of the Pan family, and the national treasure Da Lu Ding was able to see the light of day, and in 1952 it was hidden in the newly built Shanghai Museum.
In 1959, the Beijing Museum of Chinese History (now the National Museum of China) was opened, and the Shanghai Museum was supported by 125 treasures such as Da Lu Ding, and since then, Da Lu Ding has been admitted to the National Museum of China, and has since become one of the 64 national treasure-level cultural relics prohibited from exporting china.
In the late Qing Dynasty, zuo gong, if he knew it under the spring, he should be the final destination of the Great Lu Ding, and today's prosperous China is pleased.
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